Judgement of Fire
by YuriChan220
Summary: Athena and Mai encounter powerful adversaries that want nothing more than power. But what if it's not Athena they are going after?
1. A Failed Kidnap Attempt

**Judgement of Fire**

**Pairing: Mai x Athena**

**Genre: Romance**

**Disclaimer: I do not own King of Fighters or any of its characters. **

**Author's Note: Okay, this will be a good one. With my good friend, Rex-san, to discuss via PM, we talked about it a little and I think I got it down. I want this one to be a very good multi-chaptered one, so that's why I needed a bit of a assistance from him. However, the writing's all mine. **

**So please enjoy~!**

_Deep inside a dark building where no one except for 3 men are. A screen is in front of them, showing a girl with extraordinary power in front of them, fighting in the King of Fighter's tournament. They watch this girl's power and how it's used. From the look on their faces, they are amazed. _

_"Is she the one?" one man asks. _

_"That's what it looks like," another says._

_"The boss will definitely be pleased," the third one replies. "I already know this girl's location. We have no time to loose boys. It's her power that the boss wants."_

_"Roger that!" the two men nod in agreement._

****Meanwhile****

"Athenaaaaa~!" Mai calls as she waves to her girlfriend in the mall. "Come on! The clothes don't sell themselves~!" She is wearing an orange tank top, short shorts and high heeled sandals.

Athena is wearing her usual attire. A red colored school uniform with black thigh high stockings and a red head-band on her head. She trots toward the kunoichi with a soft giggle.

"I can't keep up with you," she says. "You're so eager to try on new clothing, aren't you?"

"Duh! Who wouldn't~? And you, Athena, should do the same!"

"Ah, no, no, I'm fine." The violet haired girl shakes her head as she puts her hands up. "It was your idea to go shopping."

"Awww, but didn't I tell you before? You're a famous pop idol. Wearing such outfits can be absolutely amazing, even it is a little embarrassing~" Mai points out.

"Th-that's true but…" Athena taps her two index fingers together while blushing.

"Then, come on! Let's pick out some sexy clothing!"

"EEEEEHHHH!?"

Without any hesitation, Mai takes her hand and drags her inside the mall and toward the clothing store nearby. From there, they go through all sorts of outfits. From sundresses to skimpy swimsuits to a bit of nurse cosplaying. Sure it is a bit embarrassing for Athena, but like Mai said, she should try on outfits that are a little more on the sexy side. As long as she's with the kunoichi, it's all good. In fact, she can't help but smile at Mai's enthusiasm. They pick what they want, finally and keep at least 5 sexy outfits. Athena pays for it all and both of them carry their own clothing in large bags.

By that time, lunch arrives, and Mai and Athena decide to drop by at a burger place to sit down and order. While they wait, Athena turns toward her girlfriend with a smile.

"We sure picked some good outfits, huh?" she says.

"You bet~!" Mai replies excitedly. "I'm so glad you came, Athena! This makes my shopping more exciting~"

"So it's more like dragging me here than a date huh….?" Athena deadpans.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Mai waves her arms frantically. "It's SO like a date! Trust me! You're my girlfriend after all!" She quickly takes Athena's hands in hers. "So, please. Don't be mad just because I insisted on you coming here."

Athena smiles and kisses Mai's hands. "Silly. How could I be mad at you when you're this excited about it?"

"Ehehe~!"

Their order arrives and the two begin to eat and drink. But unaware that both of them are being watched by three mysterious men in black suits and sunglasses. They hide behind corners, unseen with walkie talkies.

"Should we make our move?" one asks.

"No, you fool! Not yet!" the other one says. "We need to make sure that girl is alone. Then we'll nab her. That was the plan, remember?"

"Right, right! Sorry!" the third one says.

The men remain hidden, keeping their eye on the idol and kunoichi, who continue eating their lunch. It might be a while, but they know that they will have to be patient.

The two of them finish their lunch within 15 minutes and they decide to sit there for a minute or two to rest up when Athena's phone rings. She picks it up to see that it's from her manager.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this call," she says with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, no worries," Mai says. "I'll take care of the check."

With a nod, Athena leaves and calls the manager while on her way toward the front entrance. Just as she promised, the kunoichi pays for the check and gives the waiter a tip as well. It only took about 10 minutes just to get situated, but waiting around for Athena, so she decides to search for her. The call may or may not take long, but she's already bored. Taking the two bags of clothing she exits the restaurant and starts searching.

****Meanwhile****

Athena is between the two entrance doors where people come in and out of the mall while she finishes her call with her manager. She's scheduling her next concert and she ran into a few problems, but the manager was able to solve them. She thanks him and hangs up with a soft sigh.

"It's for my fans after all…" she says to herself.

Not like she dislikes it, but sometimes, it can be a little overwhelming, especially now that she's dating Mai. However, since the kunoichi has been going to her concerts, including her biggest fan, Kula Diamond, she's happier than she could ever be. With their support, including all her fans, her popularity continues to grow.

However, she fails to notice three men who are hiding behind a corner, watching her.

"She's the girl!" the one man says. "The other one isn't with her, so now's our chance!"

"Alright, men!" the other one says, putting his hand up. "On my mark! And…go!"

They run toward the doors, the first one being ahead of them. Just as the automatic doors open, he goes to flip up Athena's skirt, causing her to look down and try to put it down while squeaking. While she's distracted, the man goes under her, grabbing her legs and the one behind her covers her mouth with blue cloth. Athena's eyes widen as she is being picked up by the two men and carried outside.

Meanwhile, Mai is looking everywhere for her girlfriend, but since this place is so big, it'll be forever until she finally finds her.

Back outside, Athena struggles hard until she can get one of her legs free. She delivers a hard kick to the man's face, making him stagger back and hold his cheek. Athena wiggles herself free, having the cloth out of her mouth and tries to run away, but the other man grabs her by the waist and tries pulling her. Athena waves her arms and legs around like mad.

"She won't budge!" the man grunts. "This girl's a tough one!"

"Stay away! Stay away!" Athena screams. She opens her palm, summoning purple ball of energy and thrusts it at the one man who is coming at her to restrain her.

Back at the mall, she's nearby the entrance where her highly trained ninja hearing can sense danger…and can hear Athena as well.

"There she is…" she says to herself.

She uses her ninja speed to go directly toward where the sound is. She bursts through the open entrance doors.

"Athena!" she calls. "Athena, are you alright!?" However, she is greeted by 3 knocked out men and a wild Athena throwing Psycho Balls everywhere, hoping to hit whatever she throws.

"No!" she cries. "Stay away from me!"

"Ummm….Athena?" Mai sweat drops. "It's alright now."

The violet haired girl gasps as soon as she opens her eyes and sees her girlfriend. Without hesitation, she jumps into Mai's arms, burying her face in her uber-sized chest.

"Oh, Mai!" she cries. "Thank goodness! I don't know what I would've done if you haven't come to save me!"

"Ummm…it looks like you did all the saving yourself," Mai laughs nervously. She embraces the poor idol, stroking her hair. "Although, you put some holes on walls, unfortunately. You went to full power, didn't you?"

"I had to!" Athena says, tears falling from her eyes and clutching Mai's shirt. "Those creeps picked me up and tried to kidnap me!"

The brunette looks up with a glare as one of the men manage to stand up. With a hug and a kiss on the forehead, Mai urges Athena to stay and walks over toward the man on the ground.

"Alright, talk," she demands, kneeling to his level. "Who do you work for? Why are you going after Athena?"

"Guh…all we need…is power…to complete our mission," he groans.

Mai glances at the violet haired girl and then back at the man. "After Athena's power, huh? Well, I won't let you." She stands up and whips out her fan. "I could burn you into a crisp right now. For trying to kidnap my girlfri-HYAAAAA!" Before she can finish, she feels something shock her from behind, sending electric current from head to toe, and then renders her unconscious. Two of the men catch her before she hits the ground and start to carry her toward a black car.

"Ah! Mai!" Athena cries. She starts to go after them, but trips and falls. She then realizes that one of the men grabbed her leg, but is still dizzy from the impact of her Psycho balls. She wiggles her leg free as soon as he faints again and runs after the men.

They already put the unconscious Mai inside the car and starts it up right away.

"NO! MAI!" Athena shouts as she puts a fist on her chest. "Don't take her away from me!"

She HAS to do something. She can't let those creeps dive away with her girlfriend. She thrusts her hands forward and a purple glow appears around the car, stopping it instantly.

"Huh!? What the hell is going on!?" the man who is driving says.

"Keep driving!" the second man demands.

"I…can't!"

Athena grits her teeth as she brings her hands forward. She's using her Psycho Power to stop the car and pull it backward. But the constant revving of the car and the tire squeaking and letting out a lot of dust makes it difficult for her. But she has to keep trying. She then gets an idea. She looks up at the sky and raises her arms, having the car levitate. She then flips it upside down, opening the window on top of the car. The idol quickly goes under it as soon as Mai comes out of the window while the other men are trying to hold on for dear life. She quickly catches her with one hand while still having her other hand up and backs away far from it until she's a good distance away from it.

"Good…riddance…" she says with gritted teeth. She slams the car down, making it crumble and the men are rendered seriously injured in the process.

With that, Athena carries the knocked out Mai to safety, toward her own home.

****Later****

Mai's eyes flutter open and finds herself on a soft bed with Athena at her bed side with her glowing hand going back and forth around her body.

"A-Athena…?" she says softly. She can tell from that glow that she's using her healing powers on her.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" Athena stops the glowing and embraces her girlfriend.

"You…saved me?"

"Yes! From those bad guys that tried to kidnap you! I don't know why they did that, but I took care of them, don't worry!" Athena says sniffling. "You're…you're safe now…" Her sniffling resorts to soft crying.

"Oh, Athena," Mai gives a gentle smile and returns the embrace, stroking her violet hair while the idol continues to cry her heart out.

Whoever those men were, they better have a very good reason why they wanted to kidnap Mai instead of Athena.

****Meanwhile****

Two women, one with long blonde hair tied in a pony-tail and the other with short red hair stand in front of the injured man and the wrecked car is behind them.

"L-Lady Mature…Lady Vice…" he groans.

"Haaaah…such worthless men," the blonde says.

"We can't give up now," the red-head says. "That Mai Shiranui is our only hope to grant us the power to defeat that Iori creep. He's much more powerful than that Kyo Kusanagi."

"You're right," Mature says. "Fortunately, we have more men, but we need a plan B."

"Right, but what about that Athena Asamiya girl? I heard she's psychic, so she'll predict our next move."

"Well then, why don't our men take care of Athena while we go after Mai. It should be a piece of cake right?"

"I sure hope so."

**A/N: I surely hope I did this right. And I made up Athena lifting up the car and stuff. I was just thinking that psychics do that, so that's why I wrote it. And I thought of Mature and Vice as the main villains just because it came to my mind. I looked them up a little bit and it kinda makes sense, right? Forgive me if I messed them up. **

**A-anyways, this is the first chapter. Have a nice day!**


	2. The Hunt and Capture

**Chapter 2**

**The Hunt and Capture**

For the next several weeks, Mai and Athena stayed by each other's side at all costs, meaning that they keep an eye out for anyone suspicious that try to sneak up on either of them. And so far, everything's going well for them. Athena's able to do her idol work, Mai with her ninja missions and their occasional dates. For Athena, she couldn't have been more fortunate than she ever was. But as a psychic, she has to be aware of what's to come in the future.

Right now, the two are in Athena's home, in her bedroom, lying on their sides on her bed. The idol snuggles against her busty girlfriend while the brunette gently strokes her hair, playing with it for a bit while giving her kisses on the forehead every now and then. Athena finally breaks the ice.

"Say, Mai?"

"Yes, Athena?"

"It's been 3 weeks and nothing's happened," she says softly. "I wonder what's going on."

"Hehe! I do know this," Mai says. "They are probably scared because we are together all the time. That'll teach them not to mess with us~!"

"But…but…I'm just afraid," Athena says, pushing herself closer to her girlfriend. "They might come back in larger numbers…"

"Hey, listen," Mai says, cupping both of her girlfriend's cheeks. "Numbers don't matter to me. I can take down an army with my powers, remember? And so can you. You're a Psycho Soldier after all."

"Yeah…"

"Our love is very powerful," Mai says. "No one can beat that kind of power, okay? Trust me on this."

The idol stares at the kunoichi for a moment before smiling a small smile and nodding.

"Okay…I trust you."

It may be hard to due to Athena's ability to predict the future, but even so, Mai is her girlfriend. She has to trust her no matter what.

****Later**  
**

"Athena-onee-chaaaan~!" Kula calls as she sees her favorite idol and Mai walking together.

"Kula-san?"

"Hey, hey~!" the strawberry blonde trots toward them and holds out the flyer for Athena's next concert. "You look amazing here! Can i keep this one~?"

"Ehehe! Keep it as long as you like~" the idol says.

"Say, where's your friend with the frizzy hair?" Mai asks.

"Sylvie? She said she had some things to do," Kula replies. "So I'm by myself for the time being."

"I see," Athena says. "Do be careful, though. I fear that there are dangerous people out there who might try to-"

"Hey, hey, let's try not to scare her. Hehehe!" Mai giggles.

"Oh, you don't know what I'm capable of?" Kula dead pans. "You're treating me like a kid again, aren't you?"

"Ah, no, no, no!" Athena waves her hands back and forth. "I was just giving you a warning, that's all! Ahaha!" She holds one finger up with a nervous smile. "You know what they say to kids: don't talk to strangers. MEEP!" She covers her mouth, but realizes that she was too late. "I did it again, didn't I…?"

"Yep…" Kula says. She lets out a soft sigh. "I still admire you, Athena-onee-chan, but you going and saying something like this? I have never heard that from you before."

"Awwww, I'm truly sorry," the idol says. "Just take this as a warning, not me treating you like a little kid, okay?" She pats her on the shoulder to comfort her a little.

"Fine," Kula says. "Thanks anyways." She turns her heel to leave. "Alright, I better go. I'm going to get some ice cream and then head home. I'll invite Sylvie over too."

"Okay," Athena says. "Bye."

"Bye, bye~!" Kula waves both hands to her idol and the kunoichi and trots away.

The violet haired girl rests her head on Mai's shoulder while holding her hand. "Did I say…the right thing?"

"I hope so," the brunette replies. "Though, you sounded like you were her parent. Hehe~!"

The idol blushes heavily and backs away. "M-mou, Mai, you idiot!"

"Hehehehe! Just saying. She's your biggest fan, so you should know her likes and dislikes once in a while."

"Yeah, you're right…"

The kunoichi pets her like a puppy, and kisses her on the forehead. "Now then, where to? Oh, I know! The mall again~!"

"No, I think I'm good on clothes, please," Athena denies. "Besides, I'm still not feeling the need to go into any mall because of…y-you know…"

"Oh, right, right. Sorry, Athena. But you know that it's over, right? It's been 3 weeks without incident."

"Yes, but it may happen again. I'd rather not risk it."

"Hey, remember what I told you last night?" Mai says. "Numbers don't matter. If we stick together like we always do, nothing can stop us. They can't beat our powers combined."

"Mai…"

The kunoichi winks at her with a toothy grin. "So there's nothing to worry about, you silly goose~! I'm right here."

Athena smiles a small smile. "You're right. Sorry I'm worrying too much."

"Nah, don't be~! That's what's cute about you, actually."

"Mou…Mai…."

****Next Few Days****

Yes, Mai said she'll always be there for her, but in truth, they can't always be like this. This week is going to be a little hectic because Athena has some idol work to do, plus some meetings for her upcoming album. As for Mai, she has some missions to go to for her clan. Athena knew this would happen, but alas, she has to deal with what she can.

But…unbeknownst to her, 3 new men that Mature and Vice hired are keeping close eye on her. They know that her next concert is a couple days, so by Mature and Vice's orders, they plan to take her down after her debut at the concert. So that it'll be much easier for the two young women to kidnap Mai without any interference.

Right now, Athena is done with her meetings to prepare for the concert and walks outside to get some fresh air. She looks at her smart phone for any texts or anything, but nothing. Mai must be busy with her mission. She lets out a soft sigh and leans against the wall. It may be boring without Mai but it'll be a couple days until the concert. After that, she and Mai will continue to date if possible.

"I miss you, Mai," she sighs again. "Hope you're doing well on your mission."

****Later****

The time has come and Athena's concert will start in just five minutes. Sadly, Mai won't make it due to her mission thing again, this time, doing it solo. But at least Kula will show up and have a good time. Then, she'll sign autographs and get ready to go home afterwards.

The curtains open and Athena gets the concert underway. She sings and dances while the fans cheer as loud as they can while waving their glow sticks. Kula is at the front row since she bought her tickets early and is cheering along with the crowd.

But by the time she finishes a song, she can sense something from the back of her mind. It may be a fragment, but she can clearly see what place it is. Back stage. Something's not right with this. But there's no time to think about it right now as she has a concert to go through, plus some signing autographs.

*Meanwhile*

There is tight security, but is it? Mature and Vice's men aren't that dumb. Plus they're pretty strong. Sneaking in without anyone noticing, they hide back stage and wait for the right moment for one of the patrolling guards to walk by and put him out of his misery with a silent kill. They remain hiding until they know the coast will be clear and Athena will soon get ready to leave.

*Later*

Athena finishes the concert with a bang and everyone gives a thunderous of applause. "Thank you for joining me in this wonderful concert! I love you all! Good night!"

With that, the curtain closes and she's off to greet the adoring fans waiting outside the stage, gathering around a large rectangular table. Within another hour and a half, Athena signs autographs nonstop, smiling and greeting those who come to meet her in person and even takes pictures with a couple fans.

Pretty soon, the room gets quieter and quieter with the line getting smaller by the minute. By the time she signs the last autograph, she stands up from her chair and stretches out her arms.

"Mmmm~! What a night!" she says. "Manager-san, I think we did good today!"

"We sure did~" the manager says. "We will surely get a ton of money like usual~"

"Mm-hmm." Athena says. "Listen, I have to hurry and get home. I'll see you next time."

"Great concert tonight, Athena-chan~"

Athena starts to run back stage to collect her things, but her eyes widen at the sight of her dead guards. She stops in her tracks to check their pulse, but no heart beat.

"No...no...NO!" She screams as she backs away. "Who could've done this!? M-Manager-sa-Mmmph!"

She is silenced by a man who snuck up behind her.

"I'd keep quiet if I were you, sweetie," the man in the business suit sneers.

Athena struggles to get free while the other two men jump from their hiding places.

"Good! Good~!" another man says. "All we have to do now is kill this witch and no one would bother the bosses ever again~"

Athena's eyes widen once again. Just who were these bosses? And why are they even here? Then as if to answer her mental question, the man in front of her steps close.

"While we keep you busy, the bosses have some business to take care of~" he says. "Maybe a certain ninja of yours~"

Athena glares at the man. She wiggles free and bites his hand to make him let go and teleports out of the way to create distance.

"She bit me!" the man cries.

"Don't be such a friggin cry baby and kill her!"

All of them grab their guns and start open fire. But Athena summons a Psycho Barrier to protect herself from the bullets. Once it disappears, she fires several Psycho Balls at them, each landing a direct hit.

"Don't you ever learn the first time!?" she shouts.

"Damn you!" The one man jumps to his feet to grab a knife from his pocket. He thrusts forward to stab her, but she dodges it, grabs his arm and throws him overhead on the floor hard. Another sneaks behind her, but she dodges it in time to kick him in the face and fire a Psycho Ball at him at point blank. He is sent flying into a wall, knocked out cold.

The other two growl and try to charge at her with their knives. Athena stops them with her telekinesis, throws them to the side, hitting his head hard on the wall and knocking him unconscious. She then throws the last man up and down, hitting the ceiling and the floor about 6 times. The guy flails around, screaming as he gets hit. By the time this is the 9th time, he's battered and bruised from being hit all around. Athena slams him on the floor and steps toward him.

"Alright, talk," she presses. "What did you do with my girlfriend? Where are they taking her?"

"Guh...koff...I'll never tell you...!" he grunts. "Mai's already done for, so it's no use...aahhhh!" He suddenly feels his arm twist a little.

Athena glares as she closes her fist that's glowing purple. "I'm sorry, but that's not the answer I was looking for."

She is using her telekinesis to twist the guy's arm, making him cry out in pain.

"Do you know how far an arm can twist?" she continues in a cold tone. There is a dark aura around her with eyes as cold as ice staring down at him. "Wonder what'll happen..."

She rotates her fist to the right, making the guy's arm go farther back. It's almost breaking, as if she can hear a slight crack in his bones.

When the guy won't say a word because of his screaming, his arm is completely broken. A loud crack is heard and he is crying in pain. The violet haired girl's eyes glow purple and raises her other hand to control his arm.

"You want to talk now?" she rotates her fist slowly. "you got 10 seconds to tell me...or I'll go all the way again."

The man cannot take any more. "Alright, alright, I'll talk! They took Mai to the secret underground base...owww! It's between two tall towers in the city! Go there and find the secret elevator. That'll take you to your beloved...owwww!"

"You sure it's the place?"

"Yes! I'm positive! If you can spare my arm, I have the map right here...!"

Athena opens up her fist while the glowing stops to let the man fetch the map for her. She grabs it and examines it. The lines that lead to the secret underground base are between the two tall buildings and down far from where they are.

"That's pretty deep." She comments as she looks up from the map. "Nevertheless, you tried to attempt murder, so I'll put you out of your misery this instant."

Her hand glows purple again and the guy's head starts to move on its own.

"Wha...no, no, no! NO!"

Athena grits her teeth and twists her arm and his neck cracks the moment the head twists 180 degrees. He's killed instantly.

She stands up with a cold stare, looking down at the dead body. She doesn't regret for what she did. All she needed was information and then to kill that tried to kill her. That's it. She turns around with her hair swaying at the movement. They had kidnapped Mai and she's going to take her back from the two bosses the guy was telling her about. But who are they? And what do they want with her?

**Author's Note: Hehe! I know, I know, I know. XD I had Athena be a bit OOC for this, but it's for a purpose. Don't judge me. :P **

**I'm noticing a lot of people like this story. But sadly, the last chapter will be coming soon, so yeah. XD hehe~! **

**A-anyways, hope you all enjoyed this. Get ready for the most epic battle of your life in the next one~!**

**Have a nice day~!**


	3. The Final Battle

**Chapter 3**

**The Final Battle**

Mai slowly opens her eyes. She looks around to find herself inside some kind of capsule with a rectangular window in front of her to see. There are small holes in the corners for her to have some air, but the rest is all closed off, no exit in sight. She starts hitting the window.

"H-hello?" she yells. "Hello!? Anybody there!? Can anyone hear me!?"

She looks through the window to see some generators with light flashing from wires on top and there were some buttons that were also flashing. Sure she can't see everything around her, but she can see what's in front of her mostly. And this doesn't look good to her.

Just then, she sees two young woman walk inside the large room. One has long blonde hair tied in a pony tail and wearing a business suit. The other has short red hair and wearing the same thing.

"Hello!?" she shouts as she pounds on the window again.

But the two of them didn't listen and start talking amongst themselves a bit before turning to the controls. They press a button to turn on the mic that's programmed to the capsule.

"Good evening, Mai Shiranui~" Mature says. "We see that you're awake."

"Just cut to the chase," the brunette says. "What is this and where am I? And who are you two?"

"You're in our secret underground base," Vice says. "And my name is Vice."

"My name is Mature," the blonde says. "We're here to take something from you."

"And what would that be?" Mai raises an eyebrow.

"Your powers~" the red head answers.

Mai gasps, but glares at the two. "That's…what this is all about? But why did you-"

"It was just to lure you out so we could capture you," Mature answers. "But that darn Athena Asamiya was getting in the way of our plan. So we reverted to plan B: Wait until you two were completely alone and then go in. Vice and I took you while you were too busy on your mission while your beloved was taken care of by our henchmen."

"They probably killed her by now~" Vice laughs.

"No…" Mai grits her teeth in anger. "I don't believe you! She can take them down alone!"

"Maybe, but will she find you?" Mature says. "This is our secret base, there's no way she'll be able to get to us. Which is why we're going to start right away. Vice~?"

"With pleasure~" The short haired redhead presses some buttons and then, the machine starts whirring.

Just then, she can feel some really cold air come inside the capsule. She wraps arms around herself while shivering.

"Wh-what are you doing? Is THIS your plan?"

"Nope~" Mature and Vice go over toward two capsules from the other side. "You'll see in a second. You better do something quickly to prevent yourself from freezing to death~"

Mai glares at the two as they walk inside the two capsules and shut the door. The lights flicker on above them to signal that it's ready. The kunoichi doesn't like where this is going, but the inside of her capsule is starting to get colder and colder, as cold as Kula's ice. She performs a Jutsu, having a pillar of flames surround herself and she stays that way for a while. She tries her hardest to warm herself up using all of her pyrokinesis she has. But unbeknownst to her, the light from her own capsule flickers on and the fire goes up a large hole above her and transfers through a long pipe and toward the two capsules. Mature and Vice can feel some heat, but not to the point where it burns them. Actually, it's the power that's transferring to them. She doesn't know how long she'll be using her flames to warm herself, but if she turns her power off, she'll freeze to death. She keeps her Jutsu pose in place while using her pillar of flames around her to keep warm.

****Meanwhile****

Athena looks over at the map. It's still night time, just a half-hour after the concert and she's in search of the two tall buildings she was told to go to. And then go down to the secret base that no one would even find. She goes down the busy streets, going over where she would go and how to approach the two bosses those men talked about. She still doesn't know who they are, or what they are doing with Mai, but she has to go save her no matter what.

While walking, she can hear some footsteps coming toward her. She gasps and swiftly turns around, getting into her battle position until she realizes who this person is.

"K-Kula-san!?"

"Whoa! You almost scared me!" the small girl says as she sighs in relief.

"I apologize. I thought you were someone else."

Kula looks at the paper Athena is holding. "Hey…what's that you're holding?"

"Ah, n-nothing!" the idol hides it behind her back, but in doing so, Kula's curiosity grows quickly.

"Hmmmm…" The small girl looks over behind the idol and the violet haired girl keeps on trying to hide it. "You're holding something. So what is it?"

Athena sighs in defeat. "Okay, fine. Y-you see…Mai got kidnapped and one of the henchmen gave me this map to go where exactly where she is." She holds up the map to show her.

"Oh, no! That's terrible!" Kula exclaims. "Say I should come with you, Athena-onee-chan."

"Why?"

"I can help you! To take down whoever kidnapped Mai!"

Athena smiles a gentle smile and pets her like a puppy. "I appreciate the offer, but it may be too dangerous for you."

"Mou! Are you still trying to treat me like a kid?" the small girl pouts. "I know what I'm capable of! I've got powers too!"

"And I got mine," Athena says. "But it's MY battle I must face in order to save my beloved. I'm sorry." With that, she turns her heel to leave.

Kula stomps her foot while crossing her arms. "Hmph! Only the 'big kids' go. What a joke!"

"Hellloooo~?" Just from behind her, Sylvie appears and trots over toward her best friend.

"Oh, hey, Sylvie," Kula says.

"Hey, what got you so down?" the messy blonde asks. "I came because I'm done with activities. And I want to come over to your house to sleep over, so I came looking for you."

"Well…Athena-onee-chan's going to a fight. And she told me to stay put just because it's 'dangerous'." Kula huffs as her arms are still crossed. "Just leave it to the big kids."

"Now don't say that!" Sylvie wraps her arm around her best friend's shoulder. "WE can be big kids too! Listen, we can just secretly follow them!"

"Huh!? N-no, we can't do that! What if we're caught? And besides, Athena-onee-chan might sense us," Kula says.

"Not to worry~!" the messy blonde says. "I've got the perfect plan~"

"Hope that plan works..." the young girl says. It may be a dangerous mission, but like Sylvie said, they can be the "big kids" too.

*Meanwhile*

Upon arriving at Mature and Vice's lair, after unlocking the passcode that's written on the map, she arrives at the main room where there are machines and capsules on both sides of the room. She looks to one capsule with an unconscious Mai inside. She drops the map and runs toward the capsule.

"Mai!" she cries. "Mai, can you hear me!? Maaaiiiii!"

Unfortunately, the ninja can't hear her. The idol tries prying open the door but it wouldn't budge. Just then, a ball of fire shoots from behind her. Athena's eyes glow, sensing that projectile coming and dodges it. There, she sees two young women standing with fiery hands and then they are put out by thin air.

"Y-you..." Athena's lips quiver.

"That's right," Mature says. "We have Mai's powers. Now we can take on Iori without any trouble~!"

"So...that's what this is about?" Athena says. "You kidnapped my girlfriend just to absorb her powers for wanting revenge!?"

"That's right. We were powerless. But now with this power, we can defeat him!"

"No...this is wrong!" Athena gets into her battle position. "I won't let you use Mai's powers for evil!"

Mature chuckles. "A pathetic idol wants to challenge us?"

Athena steps forward boldly, a sparkling aura coursing all around her. "In the name of Light, I'll destroy you!"

Mature and Vice's eyes casually cut to each other, upon which they tilted their heads back with a mocking laugh.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After expelling the last of the humor they found in such a challenge, Mature was the first to step up. "Vice sweetie, I'm going to handle this little nuisance. Stand there and look pretty, kay?"

Vice rolled her eyes. "Bitch, just don't make yourself look foolish by losing."

"Oh eat me."

Athena got a running start. Mature ran at her too... though she seemed to almost glide along the ground, covering incredible distance with uncanny foot movements. Mature was the first to get in close, and she quickly unleashed the main weapon of her arsenal: a slash from her deadly talons.

"Ah!" Athena put up a barrier just in time to absorb the attack, though the power still staggered her greatly. She had to act fast... Mature's coming in for a second swipe!

Mature takes a deep slash; Athena manages to phase-shift well out of the way, extending a great deal of energy to teleport several yards back. Upon regaining her footing, she unleashed her projectile.

"PSYCHO BAAAAALL!"

The crimson orb soars towards Mature... who merely laughs and blows a blonde strand of hair away.

"Let's see what we got. RYU EMBU!"

Athena could hardly believe her eyes as she witnessed Mature go through the motions: a 360 spin, a whipping of coat tails that weren't even there, as a tongue of blazing fire lashed out and snuffed her Psycho Ball in its tracks. She did it... she actually used Mai's...!

Vice had to buckle her legs, lest she give in to the lust of seeing such power. "Ohhhhh that is HOT~"

Athena shook away the shock and phase-shifted forward; she extended her palm, catching Mature in the chest and stumbling the blonde long enough to spin around with a low sweep. It struck true, clipping Mature's left leg and sending the blonde in an uncomfortable landing on her backside.

"Little bitch...!" Mature spat as she rolled backwards to dodge the ground pound Athena intended to follow up with. Upon reaching her feet, Mature lashed out with a DEEP strike... an arc of slashing chi sliced clean in Athena's shoulder, opening up a fine gash.

"AHHHHH!" Athena immediately clutched the area, applying intense pressure to stifle the bleeding before it happened... but she knew it was impossible: the red started flowing seconds later, unable to contain itself inside her body as the huge opening expelled it freely.

"Oh dear. I cut a little deep didn't I?" Mature mocked, her tongue slithering across her lips. "Let me help you."

At that moment, Athena felt a pain far worse, as Mature struck her in the stomach, causing her to drop her arms instinctively to clutch her body... and the blonde sadist extended a flaming hand to her shoulder, searing the flesh, clotting the blood where it poured. Tears flowed down Athena's cheeks as she screamed her lungs sore.

Vice couldn't have been enjoying it more. "YES! YES, BABY! MAKE HER SCREAM! MAKE HER CRY!"

Athena grits her teeth. Those women are truly powerful with the help of Mai's pyrokinesis. But...she cannot let this sadist win. She manages to shove Mature away to create distance and close her eyes, focusing on her power. Her whole body glows purple and within seconds, her wound closes and she's completely healed.

Mature and Vice are quite surprised.

"No...way!" the blonde exclaims.

"You're powerful," Athena says. "But not so powerful."

"Oh, it's on now!"

Mature and Athena charge at each other once again. The blonde starts to use a series of slashes, but Athena counters with her Psycho Reflector and kicks her away to create distance. She teleports away to dodge another swipe and appears behind her. She fires some Psycho Balls at her, which Mature counters with another "Ryu Embu" attack. The idol charges and her hand glows purple.

"PSYCHO SWORD!"

She delivers a devastating uppercut, successfully hitting the blonde and sending her flying. She fires another Psycho Ball as she starts to fall, hitting her and sending her flying toward one of the machines. That triggers the capsule to open and Mai drops the floor.

"Mai!" Athena exclaims after noticing the unconscious ninja. But her eyes glow purple, sensing another attack about to come. She flips over Mature that's trying to slash her again with her deadly talons and lands on her feet. "I'll make you pay for what you've done!"

"Bring it!" Mature growls.

The two charge at each other yet again, but Athena gains the upper hand after landing the first hit. Athena punches and kicks the blonde and uses her "Psycho Sword" attack to send her flying in the air. And then, uses her telekinesis to move her around, slamming her into walls, then the ceiling and down on the floor again. The blonde is unable to move, even when trying to struggle to her feet.

"H-how...is this possible...?" she groans and drops to the floor.

"Wha...whaaat...!?" Vice cries as she looks over at the idol. She is really angry now. She clenches her fists with fire burning. "You...you'll pay for that!"

Athena turns toward the short haired woman, assuming battle position. "I'll make sure to end this quickly."

"Oh, don't be so sure, honey," Vice says. "I'm a lot more powerful than you think."

"I could say the same thing..."

The two charge at each other and Athena uses her Psycho Reflector as soon as Vice tries to attack. But the slashes push her back with such force that she slides on the ground, trying to regain her balance.

"She's...so strong...!" she gasps.

Vice angrily charges at her. Athena teleports away behind her and strikes a couple punches and kicks at her. But the short haired woman turns to grab her arm and pull her close only to punch her in the gut...hard.

"That'll teach you not to mess with me...or Mature..." she growls.

Athena got back up... albeit wobbly legs. Two on one was such unfair odds; it was bad enough she was still woozy from the blood loss. If only she had healed that wound second quicker, maybe her skin wouldn't feel so cold...!

"Gotta, keep... going... YAAAH!"

Athena manages a high kick, striking Vice's chest, but lacking the torque to get her off balance. Vice muscles right through it and clinches with Athena... and that was the beginning of the end.

"FLY, BITCH!" Vice interlaced her hands around Athena's back and lifted her like a sack of flour, letting go of her at the peak of propulsion... and Athena went flying indeed, right into the ceiling. Her back hit the solid structure, no recoil to stifle the pain. She hit it completely stiff, and what's worse... she was coming right back into Vice's grasp.

"That's right... fall back down, little cockroach..." Vice's eyes nearly dilated with the hunger for Athena's blood.

"Gotta... teleport... ugh..."

Athena tried... tried so very hard... but her strength was failing her. Her head was spinning, too scrambled to focus her mind and unleash her power... she might as well had opened her arms wide and accepted Vice's deadly embrace.

"GOTCHA!" Vice unleashed her arm at a blinding, snake-like speed and snagged her in-mid air, flinging her wide across the room, until her body once again had nowhere to go except solid wall.

"AGHHHHHHHHH!"

Vice dusted off her hands as she approached the fallen Psycho Girl, cackling with each footstep. She only stopped her chilling laughter to drag her tongue across her lips... no doubt fantasizing about slicing Athena open and bathing in her sweet life essence.

Athena coughed and groaned, sprawled out flat from where she had fallen from the wall. Her body was too wrought with pain to receive commands to get back up; her head spinning too wildly to utilize her psychic abilities. Two on one was simply too great odds: now, more than ever, she felt she had taken for granted her teammates. What she wouldn't give right now for her dopey partner Kensou to burst through the door, or Master Chin to come in with his mighty wine pot. So many times, she had relied on allies backing her up, that it had evolved to pure content. The reality that she may one day find herself alone, facing lopsided opposition, never quite crossed her mind. Maybe she never wanted it too. Maybe she had faith that her friends would always come through for her.

But if that was true... then where were they? SHE was here... lying on the floor. Mai was her most trusted comrade, and even she couldn't help her now. The hopelessness of it all brought tears to Athena's eyes, no strength left in her to hold them back.

"Mmmm... mmm mmm mmm." Vice smacked her lips. "I just love those delicious tears of anguish. They mix so well with blood and rended flesh, don't you think? Ahahahahahahahahaha! Ohh I'm going to enjoy this."

Vice knelt down, snatching Athena by her pretty purple locks. She lifted her high... and her eyes quivered with arousal at the thought of what would happen next.

Mai just so happens to wake up and sit up to look around for a moment. Her vision clears slowly until she notices an unpleasant sight: Vice has an injured Athena at her grasp. In fact, a seriously injured Athena at most. She can't believe her eyes. She's come to rescue her, yet this short haired woman just beat the idol to a pulp. At least Mature is down for the count, but she couldn't take on Vice, for as she is the most violent person in the world

"No...Athena..." She struggles to her feet, her trusty fan in hand. She can't let this person hurt her girlfriend any longer. With her trusty ninja speed, she delivers a flying kick to the face, making Vice drop Athena and send her flying toward another machine.

While the short haired woman struggles to get up, the kunoichi rushes to her girlfriend's side, tenderly picking up the poor injured idol.

"Athena! Athena!" she cries. "Can you hear me!?"

The violet haired girl's eyes flutter open to see her beloved. "M-Mai...y-you're okay..."

"Yes, but what about YOU?" Mai says. "You're seriously hurt! How could she hurt my one and only love!?"

Athena closes her eyes, her remaining tears falling freely from her eyes. "I'm...so sorry, Mai. I tried...but I wasn't...powerful enough...to take both of them...by myself..."

"She's absolutely right, Ninja," Vice says. "Back down or I'll slice up both of you and cook you for dinner."

Mai grits her teeth and gently sets her girlfriend down. "Pretty tough talk for a creep like you." She assumes her battle position. "This ends now, Vice!"

"Ha!" Vice says. "I laugh at those words. What can you do to me without your POWERS~?"

"I may not have my powers," Mai says. "But I'm still a ninja! The Pride and Joy of Shiranui Ryu!"

"Bring it on!"

The two charge at each other. Mai blocks the slashes with her steel fan and delivers a high kick to the chin, making her stumble back. The kunoichi then does a flying kick to the chest and tackles her to the floor. She smacks her with her closed fan, but Vice grabs her arm and slams her down on the floor and then jumps to her feet to kick her hard into one of the machines. Mai shakes off the pain and uses her ninja speed to attack from all sides. Back and forth, up and down and then diagonally. Vice cannot keep up with the kunoichi's attacks, but she crouches down, curling up while covering her head, only to have her back be hit, which doesn't hurt as much when being hit.

Vice looks for a ay to find the right opening to hit Mai since she's using her speed a little too much. Then...she sees it. When the kunoichi raises her arm to hit her with everything she's got, Vice gets up and delivers a devastating slash, sending her toward the wall and falling back on the floor. The short haired woman stomps over toward her, grabs her by the neck and slams her on the wall a few times before slamming her down on the floor, rendering her unable to move.

"I'm TIRED of this!" she shouts. "You two must die now!"

She raises her fiery arm to burn Mai and Athena to a crisp when it gets put out quickly. She can feel a heavy weight on her right hand and drop down to the floor. She notices a block of ice on her hand.

"What the!?" Vice turns to who did it.

"Leave Mai and Athena-onee-chan alone!" Kula shouts, who comes out of the corner of the entrance.

Sylvie comes out and uses her lightning powers to send Vice flying into the wall and pin her there while Kula prepares another ice ball.

"Time to freeze you solid!" the child says.

"I...wouldn't bet on it!" Vice uses all of her strength to resist the lightning and then grab Kula to toss her at Sylvie to stop the lightning strike. "You two aren't invited to this party!"

"Biiii, biiii!" Sylvie says. "We're the big kids! We can invite ourselves whatever we want! Come on, Kula-chan!"

Kula skates toward the short haired woman, her fists turning into ice and throws punches at her as hard as she can, making the short haired woman stumble back. She then summons her ice spikes to send her flying up, grabs her by the leg and summons an ice wall. She chucks her at it and punches her hard, sending her flying toward the wall.

Vice struggles to her feet and prepares to pummel her with fire. But Kula and Sylvie are too quick for her. Sylvie shoots another bolts of lightning to paralyze her and Kula uses this to summon her ice spikes to send her flying. The messy blonde uses her lightning once again to keep her in the air and slam her on the floor twice. As Vice struggles to her feet, Kula thrusts out her hand to shoot out ice shards and pin her to the wall.

"No one...ever...hurts Athena-onee-chan, Mai or ANYONE!" Kula shouts.

"Well said, Kula-chan!" Sylvie says as she steps beside her best friend.

Vice screamed and flailed furiously, a combination of being bested and her captivity channeling into a hopeless rage. She could do nothing at this point but scream obscenities and empty threats, futilely resisting against defeat.

"YOU SCRAWNY LITTLE COCKSUCKING HALF PINT CUNTS! ILL RIP YOUR F***ING JUGULARS OUT WITH MY BARE TEETH! ILL TEAR OFF YOUR SCALPS AND SUCK OUT YOUR F***ING BRAINS, YOU F-"

"At least three of those words aren't allowed on live television. Bzzt." Sylvie nonchalantly stated.

As Athena and Mai used each other for foundation, Sylvie still taking amusement in Vice's curses... none of them noticed Kula had approached the captive redhead, a razor-sharp ice blade forming in her palm, creeping outwards, growing longer and sharper with each second.

"I'm going to kill you now." Kula's voice seemed almost devoid of the brightness and compassion she usually exuded... almost like her NESTS programming had kicked in.

"K-Kula-chan...!" Sylvie exclaimed, caught between taking a step forward to try and stop her, and taking a step back in fear.

"Kula-san, NO!" Athena squealed.

"Do it, you little bitch!" Vice spat. "Do your f***ing worst! Run me right through the heart! Make me bleed all over you!"

Kula raised her palm as if to strike... and Athena's voice rang true.

"KULA-SAN, PLEASE STOP!"

Hearing the influential voice of someone as close to her as a big sister caused Kula to finally stop, as she always tried to heed the words of Athena or Mai. However, not one to usually question their decisions... this time was unavoidable.

"I don't understand." Kula inquired. "Why should I not kill them? They tried to hurt my nee-sans. I should show them no mercy!"

Athena broke off from Mai, who immediately gave her a concerned look, but the purple haired idol was able to approach Kula under her own strength.

"Kula... if we fight with malice, then we're no better than that sadistic scum. We mustn't stoop to their level."

Kula looked at her, then Mai, her face still showing confusion. "I don't understand... aren't you mad at them for what they did? Mai, you want to get them back for everything, don't you?"

Mai, now sitting, shook her head. "Honestly, I do want to do something pretty bad to them. But Athena is much wiser and has a much kinder heart than all of us combined. And I love her, so... let's respect her judgement."

Sylvie shrugged. "Besides, we gotta throw them in the machine and make it do noises."

Vice let out a long, high pitched cackle. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Bullshit, you're just too scared to do it, little girl! You don't have the heart! Literally! Stupid puppet!"

Athena held Kula close. "We're just better than you."

Vice's face twitched. "Y-you... you think you're better than us?! You think you're so pious, with your pure motives? Well where's OUR justice, huh? Where's mine and Mature's recompense for wrongdoing?! We never even got the luxury of the choice you have right now, when that asshole Yagami tore us open! So STOP ACTING SO SELF-RIGHTEOUS, BITCH!"

And at that moment... the proud sadist shed tears, before an audience of her hated enemies. Her face continued to scowl in defiance, not even giving them the luxury of a sob, but she did nothing to hide the streaks streaming down each eye, ruining her mascara and leaving dark blotches in their wake.

Athena, who always at least attempted to be compassionate, took pity on Vice with words of advice:

"I won't try to stop you from seeking revenge. That's not my right. But if you two want to get back at the man who wronged you... do it with your own strength! Don't prey on the innocent for power, like vampires! If you do it again, I WILL stop you... and especially if you threaten my loved ones again? I will give no quarter. That's a promise."

Athena turned to Sylvie, giving a slight consenting nod. The electric girl immediately brightened.

"Is it beep boop beep time?!"

Athena smiled. "It's beep boop beep time. Throw them in the machine and let's get Mai-chan's power back."

Mai was back on her feet with newfound vigor. "Now we're talking!"

Mature recovers from her injuries as Athena and Kula help her and Vice get into the two capsules. Sylvie helps Mai get into her own and close the doors. Athena then gets to work on the machine, pressing a few buttons and it begins whirring, with Sylvie assisting since most of them were sort of broken from the battle. The fire transfers from both of the women to Mai. The kunoichi can feel the power coming back to her, the heat within her body returning. And when the whirring stops and Sylvie stops her electricity, the doors open and Mai, Mature and Vice are back to normal.

Since they settled their differences, everyone is free to leave. Mature and Vice decide to stay behind and think about what they can do to change themselves.

As for the rest of the group, Kula and Sylvie go to Kula's home to sleepover, Athena and Mai go to Athena's home to wash up and get ready for bed since it's really late at night. They shower, take a bath together and then put on some night gowns, Athena with a pink one. But Mai decides to wear a red negligee instead, which Athena doesn't mind one bit.

After climbing into bed, they face each other while laying on their sides with smiles on their faces and lyrical giggles come from both of them. They reach out and take each other's hands, squeezing them gently.

"Are you okay?" Mai asks.

"I'm fine now," Athena replies. "I was able to use my healing powers, so I'm alright."

"That's good." Mai says. "Thanks for trying to save me though. You did your very best to fight Mature and Vice."

"I know. But Kula-san and Sylvie-san came to save the day afterwards. I was relieved actually. I thought I was done for..."

"Yes, but we're all okay. And Mature and Vice have learned their lesson, so it's all good. "

"Yeah~" Athena manages to smile and then kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. "Let's go to sleep, Mai. We had a very long day."

"Gladly~!" Mai leans closer to her. "Good night kiss~?"

"I already gave you one~"

"No, on the lips, silly!" Mai giggles. "You know what we do every night~"

The idol giggles as well, intertwining hands with her beloved's. "Right. Sorry."

The two lean in and share a passionate, heartwarming kiss. It actually relaxes Athena and keeps on kissing her beloved until both of them need air to breathe, so they pull away just in time to catch their breath, but gaze into each other's eyes. They lie down with smiles on their faces and fall fast asleep together.

**A/N: I worked with Jojo-san on this since…I wanted this battle to be awesome…and brutal. XD But not to the point where anybody dies. No, no. XD But I finally finished it. Hope you all like it, especially you, Rex-san and Mikey-kun. **

**Long and detailed reviews please. We worked hard on this last bit.**

**Have a nice day~!**


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